Midwest Supplies Put to the Test

Have you ever wondered what the virtues of writing a beer blog in Kansas City are? You may be asking yourself does all the money, fame, and recognition make it all worth it? Well if you consider there is no money, no fame, and no recognition and then add in astronomical liquor store bills, then you get the idea. Every once in a while you get a nice comment or hit a number of page views goal and it makes it all worth it. And then every other once in a while you get contacted by Midwest Supplies to brew and review one of their kits. Now we’re talking.

Step one brew an extract kit from Midwest Supplies

Step two review the finished beer from that extract kit…

This is where I got the idea to make this a little interesting. Why not FatCat’icize the review and throw this poor kit beer into an official IPA shootout? I ran the idea by the Midwest Supplies rep and they were confident that their kit beer could stand up to the best the commercial brewers had to offer. Blind tasting? No problem they said. The Ferocious IPA kit was up to the challenge. Game on!

Before brewing the kit I took a quick look at their website to see what this Ferocious IPA was all about. Here’s what the description had to say:

If you like a beer with a whole lotta hop, then pour a pint of our Ferocious IPA. Created with the brewers of Minnesota’s Surly Brewing, this IPA uses 6 ounces of Ahtanum hops for a bold brew that is rich in malt sweetness and infused with bright hop aroma and flavor. It's a hop lover's dream with loads of flavor and yet it's very smooth and a treasure to drink. This one requires dry hopping and has received rave reviews from our customers who like a bold beer.

SG: 1.064-1.068
FG: 1.012-1.018
IBUs = 82
Hops: Warrior Amarillo Simcoe Ahtanum

There were 119 reviews of this kit with an almost 5 star average. It looks like this should be a formidable opponent in the shootout for sure. I was excited to get this one in the fermenter and to get the shootout under way. I followed the instructions provided by Midwest Supplies to the T and the brew day went off without a hitch. The Ferocious IPA fermented well and finished at the appropriate gravity. After some dry hopping and carbonating the beer is ready for the shootout. I got some of the crew together and put the Ferocious IPA to the test. We stacked the field with the top beers from our previous years’ shootouts and proceeded to see who would reign supreme. Coming up is the how-to extract brew post with pictures and the results of FatCat’s 2013 IPA shootout! 

Cheers!